1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus used in a dairy barn that facilitates access to the dairy animals for milking and, more particularly, to a particular milking platform configuration and a selectively elevatable dairy barn floor.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It has long been recognized that the milking of dairy animals is facilitated if the operator is able to work from a level below the level of the cows during milking. Such a design permits the operator to attach the teat cup cluster to the cow without stooping or bending. As a result, the effort expended to milk a herd of dairy animals is decreased and the efficiency of the entire operation is increased. Numerous arrangements are known in the art for accomplishing these goals. Most such arrangements, however, suffer a number of disadvantages. The most common arrangement is that of the traditional milking parlor having one or more elevated, fixed platforms with an operator space or a floor located between each platform. While the difference in elevation between the fixed platform and the operator space facilitates the milking operation, unless a whole series of platforms are employed, the milking process is quite tedious, requiring one or two cows to be herded onto the platforms at a time. A series of such platforms situated inside a barn is impractical if one wishes to use the milking area as the barn during the entire year.
Because milking parlors confine the dairy animals only during milking, the animals are normally free to move about in the barn or yard. Their unrestricted movement makes individualized care of the animals more difficult. It also means that the animals require more cleaning prior to milking than they would require had they been confined to stalls.
Many milking parlors also have suffered from problems associated with the maintenance of sanitary conditions on the platforms. The milking plaforms are separated by operator areas, generally making it infeasible to extend a manure gutter the length of the platforms. Because of the sanitation problem, the milk line and vacuum line to which the milking equipment is attached have generally been elevated to a position over the cow. While such a placement of the lines eliminates the contamination problem, it increases the mechanical requirements associated with the milking operation. Specifically, a higher pressure differential is required to force the milk from the cow to the overhead line. An alternate approach has been to place the milk and vacuum lines on the floor in the manger area where the sanitation problems are not as serious. However, such a placement makes the task of the operator more difficult because he must move to the front of the cow to attach the milking equipment to the lines and then move to the rear of the cow to attach the milking equipment to the cow. The additional movement required of the operator slows the milking operation significantly.
In Peel (U.S. Pat. No. 4,006,712) a milking apparatus is disclosed which includes vertically movable platforms on which the cows are supported during milking. While the disclosed configuration apparently increases the efficiency of the operator because the bending requirement is eliminated, the apparatus cannot be used as a barn. Furthermore, each vertically movable platform has associated with it an entire set of hydraulic equipment. Finally, the configuration does not permit the placement of milk and vacuum lines below platform level.